Madagascar must wake up to climate change - and not just at election time

Fort Dauphin, Madagascar. Local people collect water from a distribution point. Photograph: Ed Kashi/Prix Pictet

The lack of effective information and active citizen engagement are among the reasons why the impact of climate change has been felt so strongly in Madagascar. There has been a flagrant degradation of all natural resources, and the Malagasy state continues to ignores the issue, only to pretend to engage with environmental politics at election time. If we don't act, the future of this country will be sealed within a few years.

Madagascar

This island nation in the Indian Ocean, off the south-east coast of Africa, is the fourth-largest island in the world. Because of its isolation, up to 80% of the island's flora and fauna are found nowhere else on earth

Population
19,625,030

CO2 emissions per capita
0.12 tons

Percentage population with cell phones
25.3%

Percentage of population with internet access
1.7%

Number of threatened species
636

Percentage of population living below the national poverty line
69%

Statistics from UN-Stats and the World Development Indicators

Today, all of humanity is influenced by environmental changes, which are as much social as economic and political.

Poverty, illiteracy, vulnerability, famine, chronic disease, shifting cultivation, pollution, waste, lack of water, lack of hygiene: all are words attached to Malagasy society, from the city to the countryside. The living conditions of many people do not allow them to dwell for very long on the large questions, such as climate change. Since daily survival is first and foremost in the minds of the majority of our citizens, climate change is the least of their worries.

Everyone prepares his meals with charcoal, buys environmentally unfriendly imported products (which are inexpensive but of poor quality), throws his rubbish in a corner, chops wood to make furniture. It's a way of life in Madagascar and also in other developing countries.

Climate change, sustainable development, greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation and environmental impacts are the expressions which often come up in the press, on television, at conferences, and from the mouths of specialists. But for the majority among us, these remain abstract, academic notions, too academic, too scientific to fully understand.

There is another dimension to the discussion, which the average Malagasy knows little of – the impact of oil extraction in the region.

Offshore oil reserves in the basins of Mahajanga and Morondava in the west of the country is where 90% of the country's shrimp fishing efforts are concentrated. Shrimp is among Madagascar's leading exports. As well as the environmental impact on the area, there are fears the oil industry could damage the shrimp industry.

It is clear that the landscape has changed in Madagascar. The trees along Moramanga (bordering the forest of Atsinanana) have disappeared, cut down to make way for pipelines and for the mining companies which extract minerals, such as cobalt and nickel and ilmenite.

The Malagasy state currently lacks sufficient capacity to carry out all the necessary checks and controls regarding the environmental impact of this changing landscape. The farmer is nothing but an observer because he is unable to resist the deforestation and has no opportunity to reap the financial benefits of these industries – unless he opens a tavern for the nearby workers. He is the impoverished victim of the situation. The farmers lose their way and place of life.

The increase in greenhouse gas emissions is a major problem for all countries. Madagascar signed the Kyoto protocol, and many projects have begun and have been financed in order to preserve the forest, which we have been told is our great wealth, which we have been told can help to maintain the rate of carbon in the air because, the scientists say, we, in the developing countries, have under-emitted and must compensate for those who have over-emitted.

The average American household consumes petrol for their big cars, uses gas for heat and emits proportionately. It is a rich society which consumes and which seems to be aware of its impact on global warming. Is it really? It buys organic and green products and cycles to work. We see it on movies on the television. It is green. They lecture us about not burning trees, and their awareness campaigns are a way for us to see that the vazaha (foreigner) is sincerely worried for our future.

But the important question is: do the Malagasy really know what climate change is? Until they understand the impact and are able to adapt their lifestyle? Madagascar's prospects could be bleak.

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